Why I love Sophia Coppola.

I wrote a whole paper on extolling the awesome that is Sophia Coppola  I will spare you that fangirl dissertation, if you'll accept that I may or may not be seeing ''The Bling Ring'' anytime soon. 

Here is a short overview of why I think Sophia Coppola is the bees knees. 

1. She's the Sugar-Honey-Iced-Tea.

It might be a bias (of which I have a noted few), but it's unequivocal for me. The fact that she has the audacity to tell a story the way SHE feels like telling it, makes her awesome. The fact that she can do it in such a visually compelling way makes her and the world of muted colors she creates, the shit. 

2. She's a Coppola

So is Talia Shire (''Yo! Adrian''), Nicholas Cage, Jason Schwartzman. Obviously, so is Francis Ford Coppola. That history lesson out of the way. Let us understand the magnitude of her name alone. Much like Drew Barrymore who is as blue-blooded of an actress as you can be, (she is of Barrymore and Costello lineage, which is pretty much the architecture of Hollywood), Sophia Coppola is from the biggest movie family we've had in a while. And they are all still living. They each fall into their own creative space, but it spans so many nooks and crannies. 

Francis Ford Coppola is one of the most renowned directors of his generation. Which is something since he came up with Kubrick, Woody Allen, Spielberg, Scorsese, even Raping Roman Polanski. Stiff competition. (No puns intended). He has high points and low points, but his legacy is forever sealed BY the masterful, culturally dominant First and Second Godfather installments (I will address 3 later). Being the bio-product of the person who captained that ship alone, makes her awesome. But beyond the fact of who's bodily organs met to produce her, she found a way to create her own lane. To speak with her own voice. That's invaluable. 

3. She made Marie Antoinette.

I will be following up with another post to discuss, what I consider a beautiful film. 

4. She loves Kirsten Dunst

And so do I. Her director's crush on Kirsten Dunst is really cool. The way that Spike Lee loves to film Denzel Washington, and pulls out some of the best performances out of him. Same thing. The camera has been a major part of Dunst's life, and Coppola's camera offers us an ever-vulnerable look at this star. 

5. She can tell a story

There's never much dialogue in her films. The story is told by juxtaposition, color, light, setting, and then words. To tell a story verbally is a skill worth noting, but to tell it visually, aurally, with texture is something to be admired. She began as a designer, so I'm not surprised by her expert use of visual hierarchy. 

6. She didn't let Godfather 3 scare her away

So by itself Godfather 3 SUCKS. In context, it is actually perfect, given the whole ''live by the sword, die by the sword'' adage. Not everything can have a happy ending, I'm aware of this, but Michael couldn't catch a break. Ever. By now everyone knows or remembers how flat SC's acting in the film was reported to be. Coupling that with lots of technical, and format issues, plus people just not feeling this film, it's safe to say that we just aren't feeling GF3. That's cool. At the time Coppola was barely 19, and was thrown into the role because Winona Ryder backed out. Films costs money, constraints have to be met, and it's not like she hadn't played a Corleone kid before. Seemed like the next logical step I'm sure. 

Still with all that drama, after she recoiled a bit, she got back up, and went to her next thing.